Raw Material Supply Chain Set-Up– Eastman 

 Overview

Company Description

Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of chemicals, fibers and plastics materials found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company’s innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end-markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive and diverse company, Eastman employs approximately 14,500 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company had 2018 revenues of approximately $10 billion and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA.

Project Description

Eastman has several production facilities throughout the globe, producing a wide variety of different products. To maintain a reliable service to our customers and to hit our service levels, it is most critical that we run our operations as smoothly as possible. However, one of our main drivers for production losses is shortage of raw materials. Hence by improving our raw material inbound flow, we will be able to increase the reliability of our production unit and increase the service level to our customers. 

Goals of the Project

The purpose of the project is to map our current supply chain set-up of our raw materials, focusing on our inbound process, transport modes, inventory strategy, replenishment strategy, etc. This mapping can be used as basis to identify bottlenecks, weaknesses, and potential risks in our supply chain.  The final goal of this project is to make recommendations on how to improve our set-up and to implement some changes or quick wins, which will eventually help to improve our security of supply and increase our business.

Deliverables

• Mapping our raw material process and identify risks and weaknesses
• Implementation of some improvements
• Recommendations for future improvements

Essential Student Knowledge

This project will require mostly:

• Knowledge on different supply chain models, inventory optimizations, and logistic capabilities
• Communication skills to reach out to the different stakeholders and to implement proposed changes
• Analytical skills to understand the data and make recommendations based on the analysis

More information: escf@tue.nl